Father God, thank you for another breath of fall autumn wind. The cool December morning are turning fall into winter as the crisp air from the north reaches down and stirs the emotions you planted inside of us. The hunters know that special feeling this time of the year and another hunting season has ended.

We let those fall feelings retreeat as we put hunting clothes, boots and gear back into our closets, regular clothes don’t feel the same. In our minds we know the Geese and Ducks are still flying south and the deer and elk are migrating out of the high country.

We wonder how many more season’s we’ll see, how many more sunrises and sunsets, how many more sounds of the Ducks and Geese, how many more big racks on elk and deer will be added to our walls, our memories are full of those special moments when we pull the trigger and harvest something you made, thank you Lord.

The time we spend in our creation along a stream or in your forest is like a great orchestra as it builds to a crescendo and then suddenly goes silent as your heart skips a beat in anticipation of something coming into view. Maybe it’s only a squirrel or maybe it’s a buck, but either way it’s exciting and that’s the way we like it.

We thank you for the silence too, a time to reflect and review. We need this time in solitude to help us with the mountains we climb back home every day. We thank you for your mental health in the great out of doors.

We are thankful this Christmas season to know you let the cycle go around again so we can sit and talk with you, uninterupted, hour after hour in your big Church. This time of the year we are thankful for what you have done for us and all the blessings and renewal you have given us while we are alone with you.

Amen